Monthly Archives: September 2022

Autumnal Equinox is Nigh

Posted on by
Reply
Autumn Glow - Stony Creek Reservoir @ Crescent & Van Vranken Roads

Autumn Glow – Stony Creek Reservoir @ Crescent & Van Vranken Roads

Based on the astronomical definition of seasons, the autumnal equinox marks the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere.  This year, that date is September 22 (@ 9:03pm).  However, according to the meteorological definition of seasons, which is based on temperature cycles and the Gregorian calendar, the first day of fall was on September 1.

Crisp autumn air and a backdrop of fall colors is a great time to get outdoors.  Observe nature at a local preserve.  Go birdwatching.  Take a tour of any of the area bike trails.

Blugold - Ash Trees on October Sky

Blugold – Ash Trees on October Sky

Read about the fall color exhibited by the leaves of New York trees. Read the Guide to Fall Colors in Upstate New York. Read about the science of fall colors.

When will fall colors begin and when will they peak? View The Fall Foliage Prediction Map.

Track the progress of developing fall colors across New York here.

Forage for some wild edibles.  Autumn marks the annual ripening of the fruits and seeds of many plants.  The sweet reward of foraging for ripened Nannyberry fruit is part of my annual autumn foraging.  If you’d like to learn more about foraging for these tasty fruits, please view the Foraging for Wild Edibles webpage of this blog.

Ripe fruit of Nannyberry

Ripe fruit of Nannyberry

Consider the following autumn activities as part of your enjoyment of the cooler temperatures and progression of fall colors:

Consider trying a new autumnal cocktail while watching one of the online events listed above (or while simply admiring the fall colors or perhaps while watching any of the upcoming meteor showers).

Happy trails!

Full Harvest Moon now visible for the next few nights

Posted on by
Reply

Harvest Moon 2022: How to see the full Moon this week | BBC Science Focus Magazine

As the northern hemisphere’s summer season draws to a close it’s time to gather-in the crops, which is where September’s full Moon—the “Harvest Moon”—gets its name.  It is the full Moon that appears closest to the beginning of autumn.  The full “Harvest Moon” will occur on Saturday evening.  That’s the day of 100% illumination, though it will seem full to the naked eye for a couple of nights either side of September 10.

A full Moon is always best viewed as it rises. Only on the night of the full Moon is it possible to see the Moon appear on the horizon during twilight. Since it rises about 50 minutes later each night it therefore rises during the early evening just before the full Moon and well after dark after the full Moon.  Look to the east. Get yourself to an observing location that has a clear unobstructed view low to the eastern horizon. The full Moon always rises in the east at dusk (opposite a sunset, or thereabouts) and sets in the west the following morning (opposite a sunrise).

This time of year—late summer into early fall—corresponds with the time of harvesting corn in much of the northern United States. For this reason, a number of Native American peoples traditionally used some variation of the name “Corn Moon” to refer to the Moon of either August or September.  Other Moon names for this month highlight how September is the transitional period between summer and fall:

  • Autumn Moon (Cree)
  • Falling Leaves Moon (Ojibwe)
  • Leaves Turning Moon (Anishinaabe)
  • Moon of Brown Leaves (Lakota)
  • Yellow Leaf Moon (Assiniboine)

Watch a brief video with more info.

Happy viewing!

What Wildflower Begins Blooming This Week? (Sept week 1)

Posted on by
Reply

This week, I’m featuring Nodding Bur Marigold (Bidens cernua) as one of our local wildflowers that begins to bloom at this time.

Distinguishing Features:

This annual plant is ½–3′ tall, branching sparingly, with an angled (grooved) central stem.  At the base, the pairs of opposite leaves clasp the stem and nearly surround it.  Leaves are linear-oblong to lancelike, serrated along the margins, hairless, and up to 5″ long and 1″ across, although usually smaller in size.  Stems are hairless or sparsely hairy and may be green or reddish purple.

The upper stems terminate in flowerheads about ½–1½” across.  The stalked head has two types of flowers.  The outer circumference consists of about 8 sterile yellow ray florets with rays of variable length (depending on the local ecotype) and a point or notch at the tips.  Some heads may lack ray florets entirely.  The ray florets surround from 40 to more than 100 central disc florets with tubular orange-yellow corollas that have a five-lobed throat.  These florets are bisexual and fertile.  

Photo Credits: (c) 2005 Katy Chayka,
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/nodding-bur-marigold#lboxg-1

At the base of each flowerhead, there are both inner and outer bracts (phyllaries).  The inner bracts are pale yellow, membranous along their margins, and rather broad, tapering to blunt tips.  The outer bracts are long and narrow of unequal lengths, green, and have a tendency to curl backward with age.  There are about 6-10 outer bracts per flowerhead.

Nodding Bur Marigold flowers showing bracts behind blooms

The flower head nods down as it ages (and is where it gets its common name) so by the time the seeds have ripened, the seed head points downward.

Photo Credit: (c) 2007 Katy Chayka,
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/nodding-bur-marigold#lboxg-4

Each seed (achene) is hard, dark brown, oblong, although broader and somewhat truncated at its apex, 4-angled with downward pointing hairs along the angles and 4 barbed awns.  Those barbed awns on the seeds of all species of Bidens are notorious for their ability to cling to the fur of animals, the feathers of birds, or the clothing of humans, by which means they are distributed far and wide.  Dispersal of seeds by animals due to a physical adaptation of the seed, such as these barbed awns, is known as epizoochory.

Thoreau wrote this about the seeds in his journals:  “If in October you have occasion to pass through or along some half-dried pool, these seeds will often adhere to your clothes in surprising numbers.  It is as if you had unconsciously made your way through the ranks of some countless but invisible lilliputian army, which in their anger had discharged all their arrows and darts at you, though none of them reached higher than your legs.”

Photo Credit: (c) 2011 Peter M. Dziuk,
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/nodding-bur-marigold#lboxg-5

The leaves have a tendency to turn purple during the cool weather of autumn.

Photo Credit: https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/bur_marigold.htm

Culinary and Medicinal Uses:

There are no known uses of Nodding Bur Marigold for food or for medicine.

Wildlife Value:

Nodding Bur Marigold with showier flowers attract an abundance of bees, wasps, butterflies, skippers, moths, and various kinds of flies.  Bee visitors include bumblebees, honey bees, leafcutting bees, long-horned bees, plasterer bees, and short-tongued bumblebees (like Brown-belted Bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis) and Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens).  These insects suck nectar from the flowers; bees also collect pollen.

Bidens species are the larval host for the caterpillars of Bidens Borer (Epiblema otiosana).

To a limited extent, the seeds of Bidens spp. are eaten by various kinds of birds, including Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana), Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus), and Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea; during the winter).  The foliage is occasionally eaten by the Cottontail Rabbit.

Where Found Locally: